Here is a post that Adam wrote about his Dad
Update on Dad…
As you know for the past few months, Dad has been getting chemo therapy at the MD Anderson – Clear Lake center. He gets his treatment every other week. On Mondays, he gets 2 types of drip chemo at the center and then he has to wear a pump around with him for 48 hours. During that time frame, it pumps a 3rd kind of chemo into him. Finally on Wednesday afternoons, he goes back to MD Anderson and gets the pump taken off. We been told Dad’s dosage is a very high dosage.
Today Dad went to his main MD Anderson doctor which is downtown Houston and got a PET scan done. For those unfamiliar what a PET scan is, basically it highlights all the different areas of the cancer in the body. The results were good and bad. It showed that some of the spots throughout his esophagus have shrunken. The bad news is that some of the spots have gotten bigger.
So, what they are going to do is do chemo and radiation at the same time. The certain area where they’re going to do the radiation, it’s going to make Dad’s throat very raw and hard to eat. Meaning, they will be putting a feeding tube into Dad before starting the radiation. I am not sure when that will happen, but I would assume it will be in the very near future.
Please pray for my Dad as he is very scared about having to take chemo and radiation at the same time.
The Dr. told us originally that Dennis was not a candidate for radiation because his cancer was to wide spread but now since the chemo is not working by itself they said we have to do the radiation with the chemo to fight this. Please keep him in your prayers as this period will be even harder on him them just the plain chemo treatments. I want to Thank you for all of your prayers that you have been saying.
Well I wanted to give you all an update on Dennis. I know some of you get the updates through the kids but if you don’t here it is. I am sorry so much time has gone by but sometimes I feel like I don’t know whether I am coming or going.
Dennis went and had his chemo treatment this past Mon. he goes again on the 28th. So far he hasn’t loss any weight but of course he has loss his hair on his head and he told me last night that the rest of the hair on his body is getting pretty thin. I know his eye brows have gotten pretty thin, and he said the hair on his legs are almost gone. He gets pretty tired on the 3-4 days after his pump is taken off. This is also when he get nauseous. He always gets his 3 different chemo’s on Mon. and then the one chemo is in a pump form and he has to wear a little bag around till Wed. then we go back to the Dr. and he gets that removed out of the port he has in him. That is when he starts feeling a little on the tired side. He was feeling a little down this past week and so Jennifer got on Facebook and asked people to send him a card if they could. Well he has gotten about 1/2 dozen cards and it has lifted his spirits up. He just knows he has another 6-8 months minimum of this.
He goes on the 31st of Jan. to get a PET SCAN which will tell us if the chemo is doing the trick. That is going to be a busy day. Jennifer also has an appointment at MD Anderson the same day and about the same time. I will drop Jennifer off at the main hospital and she will go and get blood work then I will take Dennis down a couple blocks to another part of the hospital for his blood work, then he will go and have the PET SCAN done which I am not aloud to be with him at that point. It will take a couple hours. Then I will drive back down to the main hospital and go to Jennifer Dr. appointment at 9 then after her appointment we will both go back to where Dennis is and wait for him. Then believe it or not then I have to go back to the main hospital because Dennis has appointment at 1 with his Dr. down at MD Anderson then we are done with him I guess so I it is finally time to come home. So just to say that day is going to be a long day for everyone. I will give you another update on Dennis and Jennifer after the 31st and let you know what both of their Dr’s. say. But please keep saying the prayers for us. Thank you for everything ans sorry about such a long letter.
